Stephen Jackson Is Latest NBA Player To Advocate Getting High

Former NBA player Stephen Jackson seems to be enjoying his retirement, which consists at least partly of kicking back on podcasts and telling semi-famous actors how high he was during his games.

Jackson confessed recently on actor Michael Rapaport’s I Am Rapaport: Stereo Podcast (we heard about it at Bleacher) that he was sometimes ripped while playing, and that it didn’t always helped. He detailed some spazzing episodes he had, saying “It’s been some games where I smoked before the game and was on the bench after three minutes, sitting on the sideline, ‘Please calm down. This high has to calm down.'”

So why, if he was freaking out during professional games, did he keep smoking? Because sometimes it went the other way. “I just gotta be real, you know. It’s been a couple games where I smoked before games and had great games,” he added.

Jackson was passed around like a spliff himself during his 15 year career, playing for the New Jersey Nets, San Antonio Spurs, Atlanta Hawks, Indiana Pacers, Golden State Warriors, Charlotte Bobcats, Milwaukee Bucks and, most recently, Los Angeles Clippers.

The small forward and shooting guard is far from the only NBA professional to get in on a little weed. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr admitted recently that he’s used cannabis for treatment of chronic back pain, telling the Associated Press that “it’s only a matter of time before medicinal marijuana is allowed in sports leagues because the education will overwhelm the perception.”

Kerr is one of many advocating a loosening of NBA’s rules on marijuana use. In a 2015 poll of ten anonymous NBA players, TMZ found that 100 percent were in favor of abolishing the league’s marijuana restrictions. “The NBA shouldn’t advertise for it, but I don’t see an issue if a player uses [with a prescription],” said one player.

At the time, an NBA representative told TMZ that the issue could be brought up during the next collective bargaining sessions, which take place this year, so maybe things will change soon. In the meantime there has been one small change. It was made to Jackson’s Wikipedia page, which now reads, “Jackson is now most famous for openly admitting he played in games high as a kite and presumably was as high as ever during a fight his Indiana Pacers had with the Detroit Pistons.”